Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Pliny the Elder and Combats of Elephants

Hey everyone, here is a summary of Pliny the Elder's Combats of Elephants.

The Roman military commander,
Hannibal, encouraged prisoners to fight each other and last prisoner to survive
was forced to battle an elephant. Hannibal promised the prisoner that slays the
elephant freedom from imprisonment. Eventually, a prisoner accomplished the
task of killing the elephant and was set free. However, Hannibal was not
pleased with the outcome and ordered his men to kill the freed prisoner while
the he was traveling back home. In the battles with Pyrrus it was discovered
that the trunks of the elephants could be easily severed. Despite this, it was
discovered that elephants fought in Rome in the Circus for the first time
during the curule aedileship of Claudius Pulcher. This was not the only
instance of elephants fighting, during the second consulshop of Pompeius at the
dedication of the temple of Venus Victrix, about twenty elephants fought in the
Circus against a multitude of Gaetulians under the threat of javelins. The
elephants were a worthy opponent and fought endlessly enduring the massive
injuries they accumulated such as being pierced in the feet. An elephant was
killed in a single blow by a weapon piercing the animal below the eye and
injuring a vital part of the head. In the midst of this, the elephants tried to
break down the enclosure but failed to. They expressed extreme grief and this
brought about compassion from the audience turning them against Pompeius, who eventually became the victim. The elephants also fought in the third consulship of Dictator Caesar. Twenty elephants were outnumbered against five hundred foot soldiers. In another instance, twenty elephants each defended by sixty men were opposed to the same amount of foot soldiers and an equal amount of horseman. The last exploit performed by gladiators were singlehandedly fighting against Emporers Claudius and Nero.

The elephant typically displays a
merciful and empathetic disposition to animals much smaller than it. The
elephant will misbehave only when provoked and is a highly sociable animal that
likes to be in herds. The elephant can be quickly tamed in isolation by being fed properly
and treated kindly.